


Chasing Destiny

by MagpieWords



Series: Tony Stark Bingo 2018 - MagpieWords [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: BAMF Pepper Potts, Business, Character Study, Destiny, Gen, Harvard University, Introspection, but not really, drive and determination, look i don't know how to tag this but i wanted to write some prose about how awesome Pepper is, post-graduation loss of direction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 03:27:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15039692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagpieWords/pseuds/MagpieWords
Summary: "Where do you see yourself in ten years?""I'm going to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company."In which Virginia Potts has always been driven, has always chased her next accomplishment, but takes a moment to consider what those countless achievements might lead to.





	Chasing Destiny

**Author's Note:**

> For the Tony Stark Bingo, square R2: Backstory
> 
> Did you know the Virginia "Pepper" Potts wiki for the MCU hardly has anything about her backstory? That seemed weird, so I wanted to explore what that backstory could be. This is mostly a prose piece, but I tried my best to put into words the endless determination and drive that she's imbued with. I wanted to describe that constant pursuit of her goals as both a blessing and a curse. And honestly, I just wanted to talk about Pepper more.

When her mother asked why she was going to business school, it was hard to put the answer into words. Virginia Potts had long since cut herself off from the human urge to hem and haw as she considered how to phase her responses. She didn’t start and stop sentences, hadn’t said any variation of “uh” or “um” in at least three years. In the soft light of her mother’s kitchen, Virginia was silent. When the reason for her continued education gave itself at least some form of an explanation, she locked eyes with her mom and grinned.

“It’s what I’m meant to do.”

She didn’t believe in destiny or fate. Her mother did, the lingerings of a faith she’d long since stopped practicing before raising her daughter. So while this might not be destiny, whatever words she could form about this reason were the core of who she was. Virginia lived with a hunger, a drive to chase whatever she was meant to do with every fiber of her being, even as that undefined goal seemed to shift as time went on. When she was young, it was a push to make friends, to have the highest score at the arcade or know of the most about coolest cartoon. It transformed into a drive to master every little league sport, to run faster down the soccer field or over the track hurdles. It was the push to be class president four years running in high school. It vanished any nerves she had at attending college across the country, earned her more friends and scholarships than she knew what to do with. Part time jobs became full time offers after she graduated top of her class. It was so much, but never enough. She’d collapse into bed after a track meet and still want to run another lap despite her breathless lungs and aching feet. She couldn’t take any of the offered jobs because there was something more waiting for her, just around the corner. She’d happily chase it forever, if that’s what she was meant to do.

Still, after five years of dedicating herself to that restless chase, she held a piece of paper in her hands that declared her a master, and Virginia just wanted to feel something. Satisfaction, maybe? She wasn’t sure. She had been overjoyed receiving it, fierce and proud on that stage as she was given the highest accolades Harvard’s Business Program had. Now, she sat with that paper, sat with the proof that she had accomplished something, but it wasn’t enough. It was a steep climb to reach this point, but it wasn’t her destination. She had an infinite journey to the top of the world, knew there was so much more to do and so much further to go. 

That knowledge was worth more than this piece of paper. That knowledge was far heavier than the expensive stock her degree was printed on. That document wasn’t a capstone, it was a corner; another piece of the foundation towards an impossible towering building that she just _kept building_. She was grateful for her skills, for her endless energy, but it was still exhausting to never have a hope of seeing the top of what she was creating. Virginia was smart, always had been and never once hide from it. She knew how to work a business inside and out, knew how to work people just as well. But no matter how much she knew or how smart she was, she still didn’t know what was at the end of the infinitely hungry expanse that was her life. She didn’t need to know every detail of the destination, not really, but now that she’d taken education as far as it would lead her. To at least have a cardinal direction for where to go next would be nice.

But no one needed to know that. Including her advisor.

“So, Virginia.” She’d known this advisor all five tireless years at Harvard. The woman had been helpful, guiding and supportive when needed, but had always strived for a familiarity, one might even call it comradery, that didn’t make sense. They were in a mentorship, not a relationship; business colleagues at best, not friends. There were things she didn’t need to know, including Virginia’s current lack of direction, as well as her longer-than-current dislike of her own name.

There wasn’t anything wrong with the name but it didn’t feel like hers. Virginia wasn’t from that state, nor did she lack bedmates. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to change it, clinging to one small piece of fate from her mom. While Miss Potts was certainly her preferred title, even something about that name felt off center. Another wordless craving that she elected to ignore, rather than stress over her lack of understanding. She didn’t believe in destiny, but the answer would come to her someday.

“What’s next?” The advisor was leaning forward against the desk, catching Virginia's full attention away from her wandering thoughts. “Where do you see yourself in ten years?”

She knew this question, of course, had answered it a thousand times in a thousand different interviews. There were angles to play in those situations, something the hiring crew was looking for. Here, a ‘right’ answer didn’t exist. Her advisor wasn’t looking for anything, just trying to help her find a cardinal direction.

Virginia gave a hum in quiet acknowledgement, considering the question in a way she never had before. Her advisor, despite her strange casualness, didn’t push to fill the silence with prompting leads or unnecessary chatter, something Virginia was endlessly grateful for. As the silence stretched on, she wondered if she should reconsider her stance on their friendship. After all, she was done with school now, she could turn this relationship into whatever she wanted. Would her advisor want to join wine-drunk brunches with Virginia’s friends from undergrad, gossiping and comparing shoes? Or would these shared quiet moments be the foundation of their relationship, something with value beyond measure. Maybe both? There were no limits.

No limits was something that seemed to please the aching hunger inside her. While she always followed its’ endless drive wherever it led her, it never really seemed clear where it was going beyond its’ next target. She always had goals, but ten years felt like a longer stretch of time than she normally planned for. Virginia had spent her life in the fast lane, always ahead of schedule and rocketing through anything that came her way. This kind of timeline brought a sort of clarity to the scope of her journey. Some people might call it destiny, but she was just grateful for a direction.

As the hunger finally gave itself an explanation, Virginia locked eyes with her advisor and grinned.

“I’m going to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.”

Her advisor nodded, as if that goal made perfect sense for her friend, instead of sounding like an impossible feat in such a fixed time. “Which one?”

Virginia’s grin turned sharp. “Does it matter?”

Miss Valorie’s smile matched her former student’s in fiercoity. “The world is waiting for you, Miss Potts, and it’s been an honor to work with you.”

Miss Potts stood, as did Miss Valorie, and they shook hands. “The feeling is very mutual.”

When she met Mr. Stark five years later, her hunger felt as close as it ever was to being sated. That feeling only lasted until she saw him work, saw the drive that fueled him towards an impossible goal, and her own hunger roared back to life. She became CEO and it still wasn’t enough. She didn’t question why, didn’t even mind. Pepper Potts didn’t need a destination, she had the direction and the drive to keep her happy in her endless chase.

It was only when the Rescue armor wrapped around her, that Pepper feel complete. She didn’t believe in destiny, but she knew that moment, with the displays lighting up inside her helmet as she flew into battle, was a turning point. Her hunger transformed for a final time. Just ten quick years since that fateful conversation in a quiet Harvard office and she’d reached her peak. She was given two perfect names that rang true to her core, and now all she had to do was save the world. That goal would expand forever, infinite in the possible chaos to defend against, and Pepper would always happily chase it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Talk to me on [tumblr](http://magpiewords.tumblr.com).


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